Edwards swings hard at Kerry in debate
By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff, 3/1/2004
NEW YORK -- Senator John Edwards, shelving his courtly manner two days before the critical Super Tuesday contests, challenged front-runner John F. Kerry on his trade and fiscal policies during the Democratic debate yesterday -- part of the underdog's late effort to close opinion poll gaps that predict his across-the-board defeat in 10 states tomorrow.
Edwards accused Kerry of peddling the "same old Washington talk that people have been listening to for decades," prompting Kerry to say that Edwards has also been in the Senate the last five years. "That seems to me to be in Washington, D.C.," Kerry snapped.
Even as some Democrats continued to hope for a ticket with the top two candidates on it, the pair's relationship appeared increasingly frayed during the hour-long debate, with Edwards calling Kerry's descriptions of his views "dead wrong" and adamantly denying he had gone easy on Kerry to put himself in line for the vice presidential slot.
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no," Edwards said when asked about running for second place. "Far from it."
The debate, the second involving the pared-down field, gave the four candidates an opportunity to touch on the sensitive cultural and religious issues certain to play a major role in the election against President Bush. The moderators, from the CBS network, its local affiliate, and The New York Times, also took the participants through foreign policy issues, including, for the first time, Haiti, where earlier in the day onetime US-backed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned.
Kerry and Edwards accused the Bush administration of getting involved in Haiti too late, a position they echoed when asked about North Korea.
"He's late, as usual," Kerry said, referring to Bush's response in Haiti. "I never would have allowed it to get out of control the way it did. This administration empowered the insurgents," who have violently taken control of the country over the last few days.
Kerry and Edwards restated their opposition to gay marriage, though they support legal rights for gays under civil unions.
"I've been to the wedding of somebody who has gotten married who's gay," Kerry said.
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said he attended the commitment ceremony of the son of Chad Gifford, Kerry's longtime friend and chairman and chief executive of FleetBoston Financial Corp. Rufus Gifford and Russell Bennett exchanged vows on Nantucket in August 2002.
At another point, the candidates, including Ohio Representative Dennis J. Kucinich and the Rev. Al Sharpton, were asked to share what they "believe in." Kerry replied: "I believe in God. And I believe in the power of redemption, and the capacity of individual human beings to be able to make a difference, because, as President Kennedy said, `Here on Earth, God's work must truly be our own.' "
But Kerry's response was more halting when asked whether he believed that God is on America's side -- something Bush asserts in the war on terrorism.
"I believe in God, but I don't believe the way President Bush does," Kerry said. "We pray God is on our side and we pray hard."
As in past debates, the candidates, especially Kerry, tried to lob their attacks at Bush. But the tone was more contentious than in the past, not only among the candidates but between the candidates and the moderators. Sharpton, who has not won any states, grew especially irritated at what he sensed was the panel's focus on the two top candidates. At one point, when Times correspondent Elisabeth Bumiller interrupted Kerry's explanation of his spending priorities, Kerry shot back, "No, I insist on being able to finish."
"I want to ask a really important question," Bumiller said.
"This is important," Kerry retorted.
Then Sharpton jumped in. "If we're going to have a discussion just between two -- in your arrogance, you can try that, but that's one of the reasons we're going to have delegates, so that you can't just limit the discussion," he said. "And I think that your attempt to do this is blatant, and I'm going to call you out on it because I'm not going to sit here and be window dressing."
"Well, I'm not going to be addressed like this," Bumiller said.
"Well then let all of us speak," Sharpton replied.
But the biggest development appeared to be Edwards's willingness to take on Kerry, who has won all but two of the states that have held primary contests.
Though Edwards has made politeness and optimism the trademark of his campaign, he sounded far more serious, even aggressive, throughout the debate. He said he would carry on in the campaign even if he does not win any of the 10 states with elections tomorrow.
The pressure is clearly on the North Carolina senator to perform well this week to keep up support for his remaining in the race.
At a campaign event in Brooklyn immediately after the debate, Edwards varied slightly from his usual stump speech line about running a positive campaign. "There are differences between us," Edwards said, "and the voters deserve to know those differences." He traveled to Albany and Manhattan yesterday and will be in Ohio during the day today.
Kerry, who plans to watch the returns tomorrow in Florida, drew immediate fire from the Republican National Committee for several of his responses -- especially his dismissal of a rating by the National Journal publication that placed him first among liberals in the Senate. Kerry called the rating a "laughable characterization." At another point, after Edwards cited a story in the Washington Post asserting Kerry would keep the country in deficit, Kerry walked through the specifics of his plan, denying the charge.
"I think John would have learned by now not to believe everything he reads in a newspaper," Kerry said. "And he should do his homework because the fact is that what's printed in the Washington Post today is inaccurate."
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report |
